All News articles – Page 5373
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News
Chello puts back flotation for second time
Mark Schneider, chairman and chief executive of Dutch cable network giant UPC, said on Wednesday (June 7) that the flotation of its Chello Broadband division would not go ahead as planned on Friday, June 9. The float had already been postponed for at least a week, last Wednesday (May 31).The ...
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Arndt takes producer prize at Cologne
Stefan Arndt has been awarded the Producer Prize at this year's Cologne Conference. The Casting Award went to Anja Dihrberg.Arndt is one of four partners, along with Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy, in hot Berlin production outfit X-Filme creative pool which has credits including Run Lola Run, Life ...
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Telefonica, Prisa reportedly in 'net merger talks
Putting a new spin on old rumours of merger talks between Telefonica-backed digital satellite TV platform Via Digital and Grupo Prisa's Canal Satelite Digital (CSD), Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that the two groups are negotiating the creation of a joint Internet and TV venture which could result in the ...
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Filmgroup cancels flotation plans
UK video-on-demand operation filmgroup, the parent of theatrical distributor Redbus Film Distribution, has cancelled its float, the company confirmed on Wednesday.CEO Simon Franks cited market conditions for pulling the planned flotation on the London Stock Exchange on June 14.Filmgroup had already slashed how much it aimed to raise from the ...
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M:I2 gives UIP biggest Oz weekend
Mission: Impossible 2's opening in Australia on June 1, one week after its blockbusting North American debut, grossed $3,675,654 (A$6,395,638) from 366 screens over the four-day weekend. This gives distributor UIP its biggest ever weekend and ranks third-highest in Australian history. This compares to the $3.4m (A$5.9m) brought in ...
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Ex-Searchlight publicist Robertson opens PR shop
Michele Robertson, former executive director of national publicity at Fox Searchlight Pictures, has launched her own boutique PR agency in Los Angeles called MRC. Kicking off with two film accounts - Fine Line Features' Saving Grace and Trimark Pictures' Skipped Parts - Robertson plans to work with both studios and ...
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Roth lines up $3bn for Revolution Studios launch
Joe Roth's eagerly-awaited film and internet production outfit, to be henceforth known as Revolution Studios, has finally hit the ground with an initial $3bn in financing and distribution commitments from three key investment partners who will collectively control own around a quarter of the company.Roth's Revolution - not to be ...
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FilmFour strikes first-look deal with Calderwood
The UK's FilmFour has struck a first-look deal with Andrea Calderwood, formerly head of production at National Lottery franchise Pathe Pictures.The deal was announced Wednesday by Paul Webster, FilmFour's chief executive. Calderwood steps down at the end of July from her current position to form her own production company."I have ...
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Canal Satelite racks up 900,000 subscribers
Spain's Grupo Prisa-backed digital satellite TV platform Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) has reported that it has reached the 900,000 mark in subscribers. The platform has reported a steady growth of about 100,000 new subscribers every six months since June of 1998.CSD launched a little over three years ago in January ...
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Elliott becomes on-line chief at Alliance
Canada's Alliance Atlantis Communications has appointed Jeffrey Elliott to the new position of senior vice president, in which he will be responsible for developing the company's on-line and Internet strategies. Elliott joins Alliance Atlantis from Canadian cable channel operator Nestar Communications, where he was managing director of its Interactive division. ...
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Channel 4 International expands sales staff
Channel 4 International, the distribution arm of the UK's Channel 4, has made two new appointments. Sabine Broening has been hired as senior sales executive. She was previously senior sales executive for German-speaking territories at Carlton International. At the same time, Sarah Tonkiss has been promoted to programme sales executive. ...
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EC extends deadline on AOL/Time Warner probe
The European Commission (EC) has ruled that it needs more time to adjudicate on the competition issues raised by America On-Line (AOL)'s proposed takeover of Time Warner (TW). But it kept quiet on whether it would link its investigations into Time Warner's takeover of music group EMI.The EC, which has ...
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Hamburg fest launches debut feature competition
The founder of Myriad Pictures tells Patrick Frater why bigger is better in the changing film sales sector.Your company prides itself on selling films from a myriad of genres. What are you looking for when you pick up a title'Although I hate to make comparisons with other companies, we are ...
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Vivendi in talks to offload AOL France stake
French media and utilities giant Vivendi has started talks with America On-Line (AOL) about selling its stake in AOL France. Vivendi managing director Philippe Germond made it clear last week that: "our wish is to get out of AOL France and not to have a shareholding link with it." While ...
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EC probe could help Vivendi's up-Stream battle
Today's decision by the European Commission (EC) to investigate the takeover of Italian digital TV platform Stream may help French facilities group Vivendi negotiate the terms on which it would cease hostilities with News Corp and join Platco.While expressing growing enthusiasm for Platco, a new holding company that would harness ...
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Landscape enlists Cronenberg for Internet start-up
Indie film giant Intermedia is launching into TV with the acquisition of a 24.9% stake in Box TV, the start-up production house run by former Channel 4 executive Gub Neal.Intermedia will handle worldwide distribution on the bulk of Box TV's projects. Since launching last month, the new outfit has lined ...
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BKN swallows France's Studio Arles
German animation producer and distributor BKN International (BKNI) has acquired specialist French cartoon house Studio Arles Animation. Arles' boss Daniel Schwall is to join BKNI as its head of production.Stockmarket-traded BKNI said the deal: "is the first step of BKNI's expansion strategy in the production side of the business' and ...
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Telefonica to acquire Bertelsmann's mediaWays
Telefonica added another acquisition to its growing European portfolio this week with the planned 100% buy-out of mediaWays, an Internet subsidiary of German media group Bertelsmann. MediaWays will be managed by Telefonica subsidiary Telefonica Data.The acquisition, valued at $1.6bn (PTS282,000m), forms part of a strategic relationship arising between two of ...
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Media Luna launches joint venture sales company
Cologne-based sales agent Media Luna International Film Sales has joined forces with four German production houses to launch an expanded theatrical sales outfit Media Luna Entertainment (MLE).This week's Media Forum NRW in Cologne provided the backdrop for the launch of the new company which will be managed by Ida Martins, ...
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Bhaman Naraghi joins Miramax as executive vp
Bahman Naraghi has joined Miramax Films as executive vice president of finance and operations. Naraghi will oversee all aspects of the company's finance, accounting, reporting and human resources as well as supervising certain business development efforts and arranging new financial arrangements for film projects. He will report directly to co-chairmen ...